The switched-capacitor direct current (DC)-DC converter, which is also known as charge pump, is popularly applied to generate different levels of DC voltage other than the supply voltage. The charge pump typically contains switches, capacitors, and clocking circuits, and does not require any transformers or inductors. The charge pump (e.g., multi-phase charge pump) can generate different DC output voltages by transferring charge among the capacitor networks in the charge pump using two or more clock phases. To facilitate generating the different DC output voltages, a number of topologies have been employed for step-up charge pump designs. One of the well-known charge pumps is the Makowski charge pump, which is able to obtain the maximum output voltage with a minimum number of capacitors in a two-phase system. In the Makowski charge pump, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) transistors are biased in the linear region to act as charge transfer switches. Each MOSFET is being turned on and off by applying an appropriate gate voltage to the respective MOSFET. However, the required gate voltages to drive the MOSFET gates are usually higher than the voltage supply. As a result, conventionally, external circuits, such as level shifters and bootstrapping circuits, are applied to generate the desired high voltage clock signals to facilitate applying the desired high gate voltage to the gates of the MOSFETs. Another approach used today is a systematic gate control strategy for high efficiency charge pumps. However, these conventional schemes result in increasing the required silicon area in order to implement the particular scheme as well as increasing the design complexity of the charge pump.
Currently, there is a need to be able to generate a desirably high gate voltage (e.g., a boosted gate voltage that is desirably higher than the supply voltage) to be applied to the gate of the switches (e.g., MOSFETs) in a charge pump while reducing the complexity of the circuit design and the circuit area required to generate the desired gate voltage. The above-described deficiencies of today's gate voltage boosting systems are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional systems, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state of the art and corresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting embodiments may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.